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Since 1986, Houghton Mifflin's The Best American Essays has delivered an annual treasure trove of fine writing and thought-provoking essays selected from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. Join us for a reading by some of California's leading contemporary essayists, Kendra Atleework, Richard M. Lange, Angela Morales, Karen Palmer, Jose Antonio Vargas, and Alia Volz. $10

Kendra Atleework is a writer born and raised in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. She’s at work on a book of nonfiction about disaster, family, and history, taking off from her essay “Charade,” which appeared in The Best American Essays 2015. She lives in Minneapolis and... Read More →

Richard M. Lange’s short fiction has appeared in North American Review, Cimarron Review, Mississippi Review, Ping Pong, Portland Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, The William and Mary Review, Eclipse, Green Mountains Review, Georgetown Review and elsewhere. Two of his stories have... Read More →

Angela Morales, a graduate of the University of Iowa's nonfiction writing program, is the author of The Girls in My Town, a collection of personal essays. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays 2013, Harvard Review, The Southern Review, The Southwest Review, The Los Angeles... Read More →

Karen Palmer is author of the novels All Saints and Border Dogs. The recipient of an NEA fellowship and a Pushcart Prize, her work has appeared in Best American Essays 2017, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Kenyon Review, The Rumpus, Five Points, and others. She has taught at UCLA Extension... Read More →

Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, filmmaker, and media entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Define American, the nation’s leading non-profit media advocacy organization that uses storytelling to humanize the conversation around immigration, citizenship... Read More →

Alia Volz is a native daughter of San Francisco. Her writing is found in The Best American Essays 2017, Tin House, The New York Times, Threepenny Review, Nowhere Magazine, Utne Reader, New England Review and the recent anthologies Dig If You Will The Picture: Writers Remember Prince... Read More →